eBay Bidder Rants

[DreamTR]

eBay Rants

Things I hate about eBay bidders:

Overseas bidders can not read the shipping costs.
It clearly states I sell to International Bidders with the listed cost. Yet,
I still receive emails and messages asking me how much cost is to someone's country
when it is ALREADY LISTED in the auction description.

Buyers that complain about my shipping cost.
They say "it's only $1.74 in a bubble mailer", or something to that nature when I
charge $5 shipping. I have to PAY for the bubble mailers, PAY the eBay listing and FINAL value fees, PAY the
PayPal fees, and then DRIVE to the post office which takes time, as well as the GASOLINE
it takes to head to the post office. People do not seem to understand that in order to
use eBay and not become poor from it, you need to make up for the fees somehow.

Buyers that "report" me to eBay because they don't want to pay cost of shipping/can not win
auction, etc.
Some idiot did not like my $10 shipping charge to Canada for a demo of a PS2 game.
He then tells me he reported me to eBay for selling it. What was the point of that? It's a
NOT FOR RESALE demo that plays in a final PS2, but he decided to report me because he did
not want to pay $10 shipping? I'd like him to tell me where I can ship a package for under
$7.50 INSURED with TRACKING anywhere in the world. You HAVE to have tracking if you accept
PayPal, which means you need to pay the big money. Too bad someone has to ruin it for
everyone.

Buyers that ask me to sell "rare" items for LOW LOW prices.
I've had silly people offer me $10 SHIPPED for brand new PS2 games released in the
stores a day earlier. I had someone else offer me $7 for 3 protos AFTER he emailed me asking
me to purchase them, and I said to make a "decent" offer. Please. Get real.

Bidders that bid $1.00 on ANY BIN item I post.
Because they KNOW it costs me money each time I do this, and they also KNOW that they
are not going to win it for $1.00, yet they do it anyway. Some freaking idiot from Los Angeles
kept doing that to my Virtual Boy auctions. That is why he is banned from bidding again on my
stuff. I'd post his name, but I don't want to dirty the forums with trash like him.

Sorry for the rant, but people make no sense sometimes...

[Mayhem]

Buyers that complain about my shipping cost.
They say "it's only $1.74 in a bubble mailer", or something to that nature when I
charge $5 shipping. I have to PAY for the bubble mailers, PAY the eBay listing and FINAL value fees, PAY the
PayPal fees, and then DRIVE to the post office which takes time, as well as the GASOLINE
it takes to head to the post office. People do not seem to understand that in order to
use eBay and not become poor from it, you need to make up for the fees somehow.

In eBay terms you are not allowed to do these things in terms of increasing your shipping costs to pay for:

eBay listing fees
Final listing fees
Paypal fees

So if you told a buyer that, they could quite conceivably report you for it.

[philosophyst]

Bidders that bid $1.00 on ANY BIN item I post. Because they KNOW it costs me money each time I do this, and they also KNOW that they
are not going to win it for $1.00, yet they do it anyway. Some freaking idiot from Los Angeles
kept doing that to my Virtual Boy auctions. That is why he is banned from bidding again on my
stuff. I'd post his name, but I don't want to dirty the forums with trash like him.

Sorry for the rant, but people make no sense sometimes...


If you don't want people to kill your buy it now's, why do you start them at $1.00? If you are unhappy that people bid on an item, why do you have an auction style listing to begin with? A Fixed Price only listing is certainly an option.

It's silly to ban someone from your auctions simply because they bid on them, you are in control here so if you don't want people to bid, do a buy it now only.

[DreamTR]

It costs MORE to list at a higher amount, rather than list it at $1. Sure I am in control, but it's MUCH cheaper to list it at $0.99 with a BIN. Also, I stated before that these bidders are ONLY bidding a $1 and to spite the fact there is a BIN. You don't think that merits banning?

Mayhem, I clearly said that I have HANDLING fees that include time and gasoline. This was strictly a RANT, and was not implied at what I charge the handling fees for. Gas and time are what I charge the fees for, I am just NOTING that there are loads of other fees involved.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Buyers that complain about my shipping cost.
They say "it's only $1.74 in a bubble mailer", or something to that nature when I
charge $5 shipping. I have to PAY for the bubble mailers, PAY the eBay listing and FINAL value fees, PAY the
PayPal fees, and then DRIVE to the post office which takes time, as well as the GASOLINE
it takes to head to the post office. People do not seem to understand that in order to
use eBay and not become poor from it, you need to make up for the fees somehow.

In eBay terms you are not allowed to do these things in terms of increasing your shipping costs to pay for:

eBay listing fees
Final listing fees
Paypal fees

So if you told a buyer that, they could quite conceivably report you for it.

Gas, packing materials, and such are considered handling charges. Sure, postage would be like $1.50, but the rest adds up. The other things? Yeah, you're not supposed to tell them that your S&H charges are to pay for eBay and Paypal fees. That's a no-no.

Which is why I include it in my S&H charge and not say anything about it.

*edited to remove some ... anger :P*

[NE146]

I stated before that these bidders are ONLY bidding a $1 and to spite the fact there is a BIN. You don't think that merits banning?

It's a bid aint it? The fact that it kills the BIN is part of the Ebay scheme of things.. Generally the idea is that they stop anyone else from buying it immediately, and hopefully it will end at a cheaper price than the BIN.

If they never end up bidding after the $1... Oh well, if you're going to insist on listing it that way what can you do? LOL

[dieourumov]

I usually bid on an item to rid itself of the buy it now option.

[Griking]

I'd like him to tell me where I can ship a package for under $7.50 INSURED with TRACKING anywhere in the world. You HAVE to have tracking if you accept PayPal, which means you need to pay the big money.

First of all, it depends on what it is that you're shipping.

If you're selling a single game and you're shipping within the US you can ship via priority mail with delivery confirmation for about $4.30. Obviously it will cost more to ship internationally but you shouldn't have the same set price shipping rate for domestic shipping as you do for international shipping.

Besides, you really can't guarantee delivery of a package shipped internationally. Once the post office hand the package off to the other country's customs dept there's no way the post office can track it.

[Kitsune Sniper]

First of all, it depends on what it is that you're shipping.

If you're selling a single game and you're shipping within the US you can ship via priority mail with delivery confirmation for about $4.30. Obviously it will cost more to ship internationally but you shouldn't have the same set price shipping rate for domestic shipping as you do for international shipping.

Besides, you really can't guarantee delivery of a package shipped internationally. Once the post office hand the package off to the other country's customs dept there's no way the post office can track it.

Try explaining that to Paypal.

Also, this is why I always add "Shipping will be so and so for US bidders, Canadians, Austrailans, Asians and Europeans please contact me to calculate shipping." A few people actually read my listings and have asked me for info. Which is cool.

This also brings up something that pisses me off regarding eBay: They won't let you set a flat shipping fee for US bidders and a calculated one for Foreign bidders, and viceversa. This is something they should REALLY change.

[Buyatari]

In eBay terms you are not allowed to do these things in terms of increasing your shipping costs to pay for:

eBay listing fees
Final listing fees
Paypal fees

So if you told a buyer that, they could quite conceivably report you for it.

You can not charge the bidders the exact ammount you are charged and say its for the charges you recieved.

HOWEVER, ebay recomends that seller charge a handling fee if they wish to recover these charges. Charging a handling fee is permited.

Unless his shipping was determined by the ending price he is withing the guidelines eBay has set.

ps $10 to ship a demo is high but hey if you listed it as such then more power to you for getting someone to buy it.